


Project A.R.I.

by Juulna



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Canon, Arecibo Observatory & Telescope, Bots as Children, Established Relationship, F/M, Female Tony Stark, Inspired by Real Events, It's hard to surprise supersoldiers, M/M, Not Beta Read, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Endgame, RIP Arecibo, Scientific Mistakes Likely Abound, Surprises, Toni adopts Arecibo because of course she does, Wow since when do I write that?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:14:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,359
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27845870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Juulna/pseuds/Juulna
Summary: When Toni heard that Arecibo---one of her favourite scientific objects in the world---was going to be decommissioned, well she couldn't have that, now could she??She tries to surprise her husbands, but instead ends up being the one pleasantly surprised---and very much loved.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 5
Kudos: 81
Collections: Ladies of Marvel Bingo 2020, STB Bingo: Round One, Tony Stark Bingo Mark IV





	Project A.R.I.

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this in like... two hours tops, after I heard about the fate of the beautiful and fantastic Arecibo Observatory last night. It was already announced it was going to be decommissioned and so I'd thought of writing something like this... but then last night happened and I was so moved I just had to write this. It's a bit messy, but hopefully the emotion comes across. :)
> 
> Here's to Arecibo! The (huge) telescope that absolutely could! Rest In Peace ( _you will be avenged_ ).
> 
> ~
> 
> For the STB Bingo: Square N1 [Bots as Children]  
> *  
> For the Ladies of Marvel Bingo: Square N3 [Established Relationship]  
> *  
> For the Tony Stark Bingo, Mark IV: Square S4 [Stuckony], Card #4065, Juulna

“Toni, I know you want it to be a surprise, but at this point in our relationship I’m pretty sure there is nothing, zero, zip, nada that you can surprise us with anymore,” Steve complained from the back of the quinjet where she’d forced him and Bucky to sit.

“Don’t get me wrong, doll,” Bucky added with a drawl, “the blindfolds are kinky and we are definitely going to be making use of them later, but I’m sorta more picturing them on you than on us. Or maybe just on Steve, you know how he—” He cut himself off with a grunt, from what sounded like a nice solid kick to the shins.

Her boys; couldn’t imagine life without them, no matter how much pain they’d put each other through… shin pain was minimal but Toni knew Steve could kick  _ hard _ .

She chuckled, keying in the last few commands for the quinjet and letting JARVIS take over the landing sequence—they were all her people down there, now, no more government spooks and scientists to deal with—and went to drape herself across Steve and Bucky’s laps. Squirming her rear just a little to make Bucky growl and ‘accidentally’ nudging something vulnerable in Steve’s lap as she settled in was just part of her love language—Scout’s honor.

She hummed as she placed a little kiss on each of their lips before adding her own two cents to the previous conversation, “Blindfolds can certainly be on the menu, but for today they are just for practical effect. Can’t have you guessing where we’re headed to, can we now?”

“Puerto Rico,” both of them immediately replied.

Toni scowled and Dum-E, who’d hitched a ride for this momentous occasion, let out a mournful little whine. The jig was up.

She none-too-carefully unknotted the blindfolds, scowl still firmly in place even as she was met with mirthful eyes and shit-eating grins. “Ugh, you two. You ruin all my surprises.”

Bucky’s arms wrapped her up and Steve ran his hands over her legs. “Not true, doll,” Bucky soothed. “There was the creation of the pet charity in Steve’s name back in 2012.”

“And you—and I still can’t believe you did this or how you managed it—managed to purchase controlling interest in the Dodgers with plans to move them back to Brooklyn in 2025,” Steve added almost reverently, one hand squeezing her knee and making her groan at the soothing touch to her aching joint. 

“You managed to keep both those secret till the day of the reveal,” Bucky consoled.

“Yeah, with help from practically every other Avenger,” Toni grumbled.

“Except Peter,” Steve added with a chuckle.

“ _ Except _ Peter,” Toni added vehemently. “That kid, I swear to god, the only reason people didn’t believe his slip up about his ‘secret identity’ is because Shuri interfered and practically erased the entirety of the internet. It’s like a collective fever dream, now. No one has proof, but everyone remembers, even if they think it was all just a dream.” She thunked her head down against Bucky’s nicely solid chest with an exasperated sigh, but swiftly turned into a less-than-PG moan when Bucky’s metal hand combed through her hair.

“Okay, so yeah, I’ve pulled a few surprises off on you,” Toni added after a moment, “but I gotta work on, like… taking you places without you knowing where you’re going. Maybe, like, spinny chairs or something…” she mumbled to herself.

“Hate to break it to you, but Shuri put a GPS in my arm last upgrade—”

“She did  _ what _ !?” Toni gasped, sitting straight up and nearly falling right off both their laps before they grabbed her.

“He’s just kidding, love,” Steve said firmly, with a hint of, well,  _ playful _ reprimand in his Captain’s voice.

Toni shivered. God, at the drop of a hat, that man could— 

“Miss, we have arrived and all landing sequences have been completed,” JARVIS interrupted, a moment before she could launch herself— _ sans _ clothes—at her husbands.

“Yeah, yeah,” Toni muttered. “Not in front of the kids, I get it. Sorry Dum-E,” she apologized to her very first kiddo. Thirty going on perpetual toddler, he was; there were just some things he should really  _ not _ see.

Bucky and Steve helped her to her feet, though not without first claiming a kiss from her lips in payment. Payment she was more than happy to give, again and again.

Once they were all on their feet, she herded them towards the ramp, making sure her RT node was all charged up—as if it ever wasn’t, but habit saves lives!... uh, not that she expected to meet a supervillain here, but well—

Actually, she should probably plan for that, because the land she paid a pretty penny for was bought from right under the noses of some of the sketchiest corporations and families in the world, three of which she  _ knew _ had ties to supervillainy. 

So… maybe it wouldn’t be a surprise if Doom or Doc Ock showed up sometime in the future. She’d need to make sure her scientists were well-protected. Them and her newest child. So many children, not a one from her own body, but every last one a piece of herself.

And a piece of her husbands, in recent years. They had always loved her bots, her AIs, as if they were her own flesh and blood, and thus  _ their _ own flesh and blood.

God, she loved them so much. Would do everything for them, as they would for her. Would battle the world, the cosmos, the power of the Infinity Stones just to have them back…

“Toni?” Steve’s voice broke her out of her thoughts, and she realized her body had tightened up nearly to the point of cramping. Even with Extremis, her body was and still  _ felt _ old. Just… so old. 

Bucky placed a kiss behind her ear, and she shivered, her body waking up in a way that was decidedly  _ not _ old. But, well, the ramp was lowering and she was  _ long _ past giving random strangers shows for free. 

Toni Stark, tamed by marriage? Not a chance. It took two marriages at once to tame  _ her _ , and even that was questionable. Not that she wouldn’t be faithful if she only had the one…

She coughed, breaking her suddenly depressing inner monologue at how the five years without Bucky had felt before they’d restored order to the universe with a snap of her and the Hulk’s fingers. Lost a hand, but hey, now she could be buddies with Bucky in Shuri’s workshop—it  _ was _ pretty awesome, even if she’d had to promise upside down and sideways that she wouldn’t peak at the inner workings unless it was life or death.

So sad.

She gave her two men a smile, one to either side of her, and beckoned for Dum-E to follow along as they exited the ramp. They were greeted by scientists, but after a few initial inquiries they mostly settled back to a safe distance as they followed Toni, Steve, Bucky, and Dum-E (and JARVIS, of course; he was never separated from Toni any longer, not since she was able to wish him back into existence in a moment of selfishness) up the long outer incline, into the building, up the elevator, and to the brand-spanking-new control room at the very edge of her newest baby.

As they stepped inside, a warm female voice, in the alto range, greeted them, along with the room coming alive in the classic hologram blue that was so specific to Toni. “Miss Stark, welcome back. Is anything amiss? I expected your return last week. Though JARVIS has informed me of the mission callout, I am still learning these new sets of terminology and could not quite determine if you were injured or simply indisposed.”

Steve and Bucky had the absolute  _ fondest _ look on their faces as they turned from giving the room a once-over to look at Toni. She couldn’t help the slight flush that lit up her cheeks.

“ARI,” Toni replied with warmth and a type of love she reserved only for her children, bots, AI, and human children alike, “may I introduce you to my husbands, my partners, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers? Steve, Bucky, this is ARECIBO, or ARI for short.”

“I do prefer ARI, Miss Stark, Misters Stark,” the AI replied smoothly, a slight lilt of joy in her voice that hinted at a greater, more complex personality.

Toni giggled, as she always did when others referred to her men as Mr. Stark. She held up her hands. “I didn’t put her up to it, promise!” she proclaimed innocently.

“Oh no, that was all JARVIS,” ARI replied with candor. 

“That was supposed to be our secret, ARI,” JARVIS practically grouched from the watch on Toni’s wrist, loud enough for them all to hear. Even the scientists giggled, but Toni only had eyes for the way the fake put-out look on her husbands’ faces melted into that special look they reserved for Toni’s children.  _ Their _ children.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, ARI,” Steve said first.

“Same,” Bucky added, voice a little gruff with emotion—the big softie.

“It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to meet you both, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Barnes,” she replied more softly, her voice turning as introspective as one of Toni’s AIs could get—and that was saying a lot, these days—and even a little… sad. “If it were not for Miss Stark’s interference with my previous owners, I would not have had a chance at consciousness. I had some limited intelligence, but it was reserved for matters of the stars. Numbers. Distances. Mathematic calculations. No room for… personality or familiarity, no room to know the people who worked with and on me so diligently all the years of my existence. If it hadn’t been for Miss Stark, I… I was slated for obsolescence, decommissioning, destruction, even, later this year—if the hurricanes and the forest had not consumed me first. The government no longer considered me… worthy.” With that she trailed off, though a slight hum remained as she started to turn her telescope to face north and to the stars. She had obviously seen something curious that had caught her proverbial eye.

Steve gripped Toni around one shoulder and pulled her in tight against him as Bucky wrapped his arms around the both of them, watching and waiting in the now full, deep darkness of the night for what ARI wished to show them. 

Finally, the image coalesced, though it was nowhere near perfectly clear. Still, it was a lot better than the images had been in the past, if Toni was any judge, thanks to the work of her excellent team of scientists.

Along with the static 2D image, a 3D hologram was spinning in the center of the room, light banked enough so as not to interfere with the visuals, and a series of readouts such as Radio and Gamma and X-Ray levels were listed at fairly stable levels.

Toni took a startled step forward, reaching out to play with the hologram version, inspecting it every which way. “What is this, ARI?”

“I have been speaking with Queen Valkyrie, Miss Stark, and I believe… please forgive my initiative—”

“Goodness, no, ARI, please take all the initiative you want, as long as you don’t turn out like HAL,” Toni waved off, gesturing for her to continue. Bucky let out a little snort and they all ignored him, but with an edge of mirth.

“I believe that this extrasolar planet matches near perfectly the specifications the Queen and former-king Thor were able to give me for the former planet of Asgard. With your permission, I would like to contact them to discuss the matter, and JARVIS has kindly suggested the Avengers could contact the Sanctum or Captain Marvel to conduct an exploratory mission…?” 

ARI sounded uncertain at the last, but Toni knew that it was just one of the many unique quirks her bots and AIs picked up on their own, despite every last line of programming being accounted for. It was the… the Toni Factor, Bucky had called it. Steve said it was a mother’s touch.  _ That one _ got her crying, but both terms were endearing in their own way, and warmed her heart.

A mother’s touch.

Toni didn’t ever want to stop being a mother, and ARECIBO was just the latest in a long line—but unique and special all in her own way—of children she had created, claimed, or been claimed by over the years.

She wouldn’t change it for the world.

“Yeah ARI.” She cleared her throat, and both her men hugged her just the littlest bit tighter. “Please, contact the Queen. She loves you, and she’ll love to hear of this all the more coming from you. I’m pretty sure I’d have to fight her for you if you hadn’t made it clear to her that first meeting that you were…” Toni choked on her emotions just a little.

“A Stark, Miss,” ARI filled in. “I will always be a Stark. Perhaps I always was—I was simply waiting for you.”

Toni was stunned speechless, and Steve tucked her head under his chin. “We were all just waiting for you, weren’t we, sweetheart?”

“Even when Stevie and I had each other,” Bucky whispered into her other ear, “we knew there was something missing. Moment you gave Steve a home, the moment you brought me home, no questions asked, all forgiven… hook, line, and sinker—Starks, the lot of us.”

Toni couldn’t help but laugh. She had brought her men out here to surprise them with the introduction of her— _ their _ —latest child, and somehow the tables had been turned entirely on her. 

Starks, the lot of them.

Sure, why not?

Toni closed her eyes and mouthed a soundless prayer to whoever, whatever, was out there listening, even if it was just space dust and the cosmos.  _ Thank you for my family, thank you for my children, thank you for surprises, and thank you for bringing us all home where we belong. _

**Author's Note:**

> To all my Cross readers: 2020 has just been shit for everything, I really do apologize. It's affecting everyone differently, but I know lots of writers are struggling in the same manner I've been. Here's to finished projects and a (hopefully, knock on wood) kinder 2021 to come, and with it my creativity again. 
> 
> Stay safe, be well, and PLEASE try to stay home and social distance as much as possible, folks. I know it's frustrating, and it feels like you're stuck at home while everyone else is out ignoring the rules, but... :( I wish I could make it better, but a single person can't. We gotta do this together.
> 
> We'll get through it. <3


End file.
